Conference Urban‐Rural Linkages and Migration September 17th 2009, Workshop Input Change of regulatory framework to temporary, rural‐urban migration in China: A case study of Hukou System in China Prof. & Dr. Zhang Jijiao Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Chair, Commission on Enterprise Anthropology, IUAES Background In most developing nations, economic development has promoted massive and uncontrolled migration from the countryside into urban areas (Kasarda and Crenshaw 1991). Rural‐urban migration is a pervasive feature in the developing countries. In general, urban areas are centers of development. Incomes tend to be higher and economic opportunities greater. Driven by real or perceived differentials in economic opportunities (Lee 1966; Todero 1976), the needs of families to diversify risk in the absence of formal insurance mechanisms (Portes and Böröcz 1989), and social network connections with others who have preceded them (Massey et al. 1993), peasants flock to the cities in search of better lives. Rural‐urban migration is thus an important channel of social mobility. China's Hukou1 (household) registration system, set up in 1958, divides the population into rural households and non‐rural households, and individual interests and rights, such as education, healthcare, housing and employment, are linked to the household registration. Under the system, rural citizens have no access to social welfare in cities, even though they may live and work there. The hukou system has had its intended effect, severely restricting rural‐to‐urban migration (Johnson 1994; Yang 1993). The central mechanism regulating population flows was Hukou system, which, until the onset of the reforms in 1978, effectively tied Chinese citizens to their place of residence. The time for fundamental reform of the registration system seems to have arrived. 1 "Hukou" has been adopted by English-language audiences to refer to both the huji system and an individual's hukou. 1 Conference Urban‐Rural Linkages and Migration September 17th 2009, Workshop Input 1. What is the household registration A Hukou or huji refers to the system of residency permits which dates back to ancient China, where household registration is required by law in mainland China and Taiwan. A hukou can also refer to a family register in many contexts since the household registration record is issued per family, and usually includes the personel information of all members in the family. In China, family registers were in existence as early as the Xia Dynasty (BC. 2100 ‐ 1600). In the centuries which followed, the family register developed into an organization of families and clans for purposes of taxation, conscription and social control. A similar household registration system exists within the public administration structures of Japan (koseki), Vietnam, and North Korea (Hoju). In South Korea the Hoju system was abolished on 1 January 2008. A householder has two pages: One page (the first page) for the whole family in the booklet. Another page (the second page) is his/her personel information. Every other family member has one page to record his/her personel information. A household registration record officially identifies a person as a resident of an area and includes identifying information such as: (1)name, (2)relation with householder, (3)former name,(4)gender, (5) ethnic group, (6) birth date, (7) birth place, (8) native place, (9) blood, (10) ID Number, (12) marriage, (13) education, (14) occupation, (15) working institution, (16)religion,(17) stature, (18) military service, (19,20) when & where move from and move to. In the booklet, there some pages for recording changes and correction. Every family member has another page for change record and error correction. The ‘place of birth’ and ‘permanent residence’ items in the household booklet may seem fairly innocent, but in fact they were the cornerstones of rural‐urban migration control. All people were assigned a registration status as either ‘agricultural’ or ‘urban’. Newly‐born babies were registered at the place of permanent residence of the mother, even if they were actually born at a different location. This meant that the ‘agricultural’ or ‘urban’ status of individuals was inherited through the mother. The rationale for passing the rural/urban status along maternal lines was that men generally tend to be more mobile than women; inheritance of status from the father would therefore add more children to the urban population. Through resident registration, the system can help uphold citizens' civil rights and can also provide basic information when the government is drawing up national economic and 2 Conference Urban‐Rural Linkages and Migration September 17th 2009, Workshop Input social‐development plans and arranging the rational distribution of the workforce. The household‐registration system is an important part of ‐‐ as well the basis of ‐‐ the State administration. For public security departments, such a system plays a major function in safeguarding public security and fighting against crime. 2. Hukou System before economic reform (1958‐ 1978) In 1958, the Chinese government began using the family register system ‘PRC Regulations on household registration’of 1958 (Regulations, 1958) to control the movement of people between urban and rural areas. Individuals were broadly categorised as a "rural (agricultural )" or "urban (non‐agricultural )". It supported by the employment, rationing, and housing systems, these regulations effectively constrained rural‐urban migration until the early 1980s. The first of these was central control over employment. After the introduction of communes in the countryside, work (and income) was allocated by the production team (or sometimes the brigade) to its members, thereby effectively tying the peasants to their home villages. With its commitment to full employment, the socialist state controlled all urban employment. A second factor related to the enforcement of the registration rules was the supply of daily commodities, especially staple foods. Over the course of the 1950s, the state monopolized the distribution of virtually all goods, and most free markets disappeared. The peasants grew their own food, of course, but state procurement left them with little more than a bare minimum, and that again was allocated on the basis of team membership. The food products procured from the peasants served to feed the urban population. The state supplied the cities with grain and other foodstuffs at low prices. At that time, Hukou was extremely important. People were required to stay at the small area they were born (where the Hukou is), and stay there until they die. They cannot move around. They can travel, but there was no access to job, public services, education, or even food in other places. It is just like visiting other places with a B‐1 (business) type of American visa ‐ you can visit, but cannot work there (it is illegal), cannot go to school (not accepted), cannot go to hospital (without a hukou, you are not treated). For food, in those old days, you cannot buy food no matter how much money you have. You need to use grain coupon (“Liangpiao”, The currency for food) with money together to get food. 3 Conference Urban‐Rural Linkages and Migration September 17th 2009, Workshop Input So basically, at that time, without Hukou, people cannot move. There were very few people move around in the country, but their status was practically the same as illegal immigrants in U.S. Two other factors that contributed to the effective enforcement of the registration regulations were the severe shortage in and public allocation of urban housing, and a climate of strict social and political control. Under the system, rural citizens have little access to social welfare in cities and are restricted from receiving public services such as education, medical care, housing and employment, regardless of how long they may have lived or worked in the city. To move Hukou from one place to other is very hard ‐ just as hard as getting green card for U.S. It is even harder to move from rural area to city. To move from rural to rural was easier, but to move from rural to city was very hard.It took many years. Only in very few situations it had happened. The household registration system did not only preclude official migration from the countryside to urban areas. For all practical purposes, the entire country was divided into a hierarchy of places: The resettlement of people, be they cadres, workers, military personnel, family members, or some other category, is permitted if they have certification of movement. This certification is the only acceptable criterion to be used in determining the permissibility of the following types of movement (migration): in cases involving persons moving from the countryside to the city, from town to city, from small city to large city, or from normal‐sized city to one of the three centrally administered cities of Shanghai, Beijing, or Tianjin. As well as this, it also covers those who wish to move from rural regions to the city outskirts, or to the outskirts of a town located in a rural region, or near state farms, vegetable teams, or economic crop regions. In dealing with such people there is but one rule, and that is that procedures for resettlement must be based on the certification of migration. (Zhang 1988: 78) Thus, only moves between communities of the same rank or to communities of a lower rank were permitted without going through special